Cali - Here We Came! Part I

Emmi and I recently went on her first airplane as we went way up in Northern California for our dear friend Rachel's (and Chucks) wedding.  

Our flight left at 7 am, so it was an early morning.  But she did great on both planes (there are no direct flights to this neck of the woods).

We stopped along the drive to see the magnificent redwoods.

Emmi and Rachel hit it off right away.  

Rachel even loaned her baby blanket from her infancy.  

Rach took us to the beach.  Emmi was in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific within a month.

Pretty good for a 3.5 month old.

Then we went hiking, which was an adventure.  After almost getting sprayed by a skunk (not the best idea two days from your wedding), Rach climbed in these 100 + year old apple trees to get us a snack.

You can't really tell, but that is the ocean sparkling behind us.

This is Chuck's parents house... isn't it right out of BH&G?

I love this kitchen!  It is almost as big as my whole apartment.  

Emmi made some new friends, both little girls...

and Llamas...

It looks like she is scared, but she is laughing.  

The llama spit just after this shot (not on us, thank you very much). 

Practicing their smiles before the big day...

Editor's Picks

Just some random photos from the last couple weeks, including our Sushi Date Night.

Yep... Emmi's hair is starting to get in her eyes. 

Have I ever mentioned these are my two favorite people in the world?

GW and the Beach

We went to DC with Jay's family a few weeks ago and visited the Nysetvold's, our favorite VA family. While there, we visited Mount Vernon to see George Washington's house and grounds.

You may recognize this picture from John and Lindy's Blog, but we didn't bring our stroller, so this is our equivalent of Anya's pictures.

Funny... Emmilene and I were the only American born people in the whole group.

GW was a man of many talents, and was a state-of-the-art-farmer.

Betcha didn't know that.

There is a great educational center there that has amazing interactive displays, including a theatre that plays a movie about GW's battles. The seats shook with the cannon-fire, fog filled the room, and it even snowed on the audience. It was a little too scary for Emmilene as she had a "little" accident... which is why poor Jay's pants are wet as he was holding her.

Traumatic experience for daddy and daughter, but quite funny to us.

The next day, we went to a beach somewhere in Delaware. It was a lovely day, but the waves were brutal and there was a strong undercurrent.

We ate, swam, boogie-boarded, and got buried alive. Almost everyone sustained some sort of injury from the crashing waves, and we all got sand in unwanted places.

Emmilene was introduced to the water by her grandma. She loved it! She dug her feet in the sand and didn't mind the foamy cold water.

Emmi changed into her new swimsuit to get more beach action.

It was a fun day finished with seafood and cheesecake.

The waves weren't the only things that crashed.